Fig. 75.
Instruction usually began early in the morning; we do not know how long it lasted, but there certainly were lessons given in the afternoon; an ordinance of Solon’s forbade their continuance after sunset. We do not know how the elementary and gymnastic instruction were combined. There were plenty of holidays, owing to the numerous feasts and festivals; there were also special school festivals, especially those of the Muses for the grammar schools, and of Hermes for the gymnasia.
A very interesting picture by the vase painter Duris, represented in Fig. [75], gives us, in spite of some artistic liberties, an excellent idea of Attic school teaching in the fifth century B.C. The scenes are represented on the outside of a bowl; on each half five people are depicted: two masters, two pupils, and an oldish man looking on. This cannot, therefore, represent one of the ordinary schoolrooms, where a single master instructs together a whole class of boys, for each boy is being instructed by a separate teacher. Perhaps this is a liberty on the part of the painter, who has grouped together four separate scenes, or else this individual instruction may really have taken place even in the public schools. Masters and pupils are dressed alike, wearing only the himation. It is important, however, to remember what was stated on page 20, that this dress on the monuments by no means corresponds to reality, and, as a rule, the chiton cannot have been wanting under the himation. The masters, some of whom are young and beardless, others more advanced in age, sit on simple stools; with the exception of one pupil, who is learning the lyre, the boys stand upright before them, both arms wrapped in their cloaks, as was considered fitting for well-bred youths. Of course, the boy with the lyre must have the upper part of his body free, and his himation is folded over his knee. There is a difference of opinion as to the two bearded men leaning on their sticks, who are present at these scenes, and attentively looking on; it has been suggested that they are paidagogoi, who have accompanied the boys to school, and are superintending them during the instruction; or else, on account of the manner in which they are sitting, it has been assumed that they are fathers or inspectors.
The subjects taught here all belong to musical instruction (that is, instruction over which the Muses preside), and are partly concerned with grammatical teaching, partly with actual teaching of music. On one side we see a young teacher playing the double pipe, while the boy standing in front of him listens attentively. It is usually assumed that the boy is learning to play the flute, but then it is curious that he has not an instrument in his own hands, like the boy who is learning the lyre; for if he wished to imitate what the teacher is showing him, he would have to take the master’s instrument. There is something, therefore, to be said for the hypothesis that the boy is learning to sing, and the master is giving him on the flute the notes or the melody which he has to sing. The scene on the right of this represents instruction in writing. The boy stands in the same position as the other, before another young teacher, who holds a triptych consisting of three little folding tablets, open before him, and has a pencil in his right hand. He is looking attentively at the tablet, either correcting the boy’s writing or about himself to write a copy for the pupil. On the other side of the picture we have, on the left, musical instruction. Both master and pupil have seven-stringed lyres in their hands; at the moment represented the master seems to be only showing the boy how to grasp the chords by the fingers of the left hand, and is making no use of the rod (πλῆκτρον), which he holds in his right. The boy, who sits bent forward, is trying to imitate the master’s action. The last group represents a pupil who appears to be reciting a poem, the beginning of which is written on the scroll which the master holds in his hand.
Various implements hang on the walls of the schoolroom: at one side a roll of manuscript with a handle; next to it a writing tablet, with a cord fastened round it, and a handle; next, a lyre and a curious cross, which is not easy to interpret; some think that it is meant for a sextant for the geometrical instruction. On the other side hang two drinking-cups, which the pupils are probably allowed to use during the intervals; two seven-stringed lyres; a basket with handle and feet, probably used to contain the manuscripts; and finally, a case for a flute, with the capsule for the mouthpieces hanging to it.
We must now examine more closely the special implements used in musical instruction, and the mode in which that instruction was given. Elementary knowledge of reading and writing was very common, at any rate in Attica, and people who were unacquainted with either were even rarer in ancient Greece than in our own day. In the school of the teacher who had charge of the boys’ elementary grammatical instruction (γραμματιστής), the boy was probably first taught his letters, their names and shapes, and very likely some external helps were used for this purpose; at any rate, these were common in later periods. The next process was combining the letters in syllables; and thus gradually they advanced to reading whole words. At the same time, probably, instruction in writing began. The master made single letters and words for the pupils to copy in the space left free under his lines, and probably helped them a little by guiding their hands. The place of our slate was taken by a wax tablet. This was a wooden tablet covered with a thin coating of wax, in which the letters were scratched with a pointed style, made of bone, ivory, or metal; the broad end was used for flattening the wax when the slate was full, and then it could be used again. There were generally two, three, or more of these tablets connected by hinges, and these were called diptych, triptych, etc. It was only more advanced pupils who were allowed to use such expensive material as papyrus and reeds for writing, and even then, on account of the expense, they were not provided with new paper, but wrote on the back of what had already been used. Chance has preserved to us, in a discovery dating from the age of the Ptolemies, some very interesting specimens of Greek instruction in writing—several wax tablets, six inches long and four inches broad, all containing the same Greek trimeter verses, probably by Menander. The writing on one of these tablets, which was probably the master’s copy, is good and careful; that on the others, the pupils’ copies, is inferior. Under one the word “industrious” has been written by the master’s hand. But slight demands seem to have been made on the pupils in the matter of writing, and more stress was laid on clearness than beauty or speed, since there were always experienced slaves ready to do work of this kind.
For reading lessons the poets were chiefly used, and their writings were inscribed in manuscripts which were either rolled or folded. (Compare Fig. [75].) Homer was used as the school book of the Greeks, from the earliest periods to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, and his writings were read and expounded, as well as other poems in various metres, chiefly of a lyrical character. The master then either gave the boys copies, which he had probably made himself, or else, if they were already able to write, dictated longish passages to them; the pupils also had to learn a good deal by heart. Many teachers prepared anthologies of various writers for reading purposes; those especially were chosen which by their contents were well adapted for the reading of youth, such as Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides, etc. The boys thus, by their reading and learning, acquired a knowledge of mythology, while at the same time the most important ethical principles were impressed on them. We must be careful not to rate too low the results of this instruction, however little we may think of the Athenian acquirements in the mechanical arts of reading and writing. A people who knew how to appreciate the tragedies of Aeschylus, who could understand the comedies of Aristophanes, with their fulness of mythological, literary, and political allusions, must have possessed a degree of culture which in many respects was far above the average of the present day. It was, of course, easier for the pupils to acquire a large amount of mythological and literary knowledge when there were so few subjects to study; since natural science, geography, history, and foreign languages were all disregarded. In reading, the elements of prosody were also learnt, and these were more fully treated in the musical instruction.